NEW ORLEANS - The Tulane volleyball team (26-5 overall, 14-2 in Conference USA) will be the number two seed in the Conference USA Volleyball Championship, with a bye to Friday's semifinals. Tulane will play in Huntington West Virginia on Friday at 11 a.m. CT, against either 7-seeded Rice or 10-seeded UTEP.
The Green Wave finish second in the regular season, one game back of regular season champion Marshall. The Green Wave, which completed their C-USA slate Friday with a win over UTEP, was watching the scoreboard, hoping for a Memphis win over Marshall, which would give Tulane a share of the regular season title, but the Thundering Herd swept Memphis to finish at 15-1.
Rice, the seven seed, finished 7-9 n in C-USA and 12-16 overall. The Owls meet 10-seeded UTEP (9-19 overall, 3-13 C-USA) at 11 a.m. CT on Thursday in the first round.
UAB (22-8 overall, 12-4 C-USA) earned the third seed, and will face the winner of 6-seeded Houston (13-14 overall, 8-8 C-USA) and 11-seeded Southern Miss (12-20 overall, 3-13 C-USA), whom meet Thursday at 2 p.m.
On the other side of the bracket, Marshall (22-8 overall) awaits 8-seed East Carolina (15-16 overall, 6-10 C-USA) or 9-seeded SMU (16-14 overall, 6-10 C-USA). Tulsa, the 4-seed at 24-8 overall and 11-5 in C-USA, will meet the winner of 5-seeded Memphis (22-11, 11-5 C-USA) and 12-seed UCF (9-22 overall, 0-16 C-USA).
The Conference USA Championship match will air live on Sunday at 6 p.m. on CSTV (Cox Digital Cable channel 314 in New Orleans). Live statistics will be available for Tulane's matches at TulaneGreenWave.com